Field of the Invention
This invention relates to accessories for shopping carts, and more specifically, a tray that has a slim profile and effective location on a shopping cart that does not interfere with the user reaching the contents of the cart or with operation and storage of the cart. The tray is preferably connected to the cart by attachment to the cart handle, most preferably the central underside of the handle. The attachment location and the size and shape of the tray provide a convenient, moderately-sized platform for placement of, and convenient access to, the cart-user's important personal items, such as a cell phone, keys, and shopping list.
Related Art
Trays and holders have been disclosed in the patent literature for use with conventional grocery carts. Such devices include U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,318 (Economy), U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,280 (Hensley), D435,196 (Gregor et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,674 (Frommherz), D583,123 (Cassin, III), U.S. Pat. No. 8,056,909 (Burdwood et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 8,313,114 (Aron), U.S. Pat. No. 8,534,520 (Liparoti), and D714,012 (Fredendall et al.). These prior art approaches are complex, and/or interfere with the user's access to items in the cart or with a child sitting in the child-seat of the cart. For example, many of these devices attach to multiple pieces of the cart, for example, multiple bars/rods of the cart, and/or are removably lowered down onto, and support by, said multiple pieces of the cart. Many of these devices protrude a significant distance upward from the level of the handle and a significant distance upward from a plane extending from the handle to the rear transverse bar that is typically an upper portion or upper end of the cart rear wall, which the child in the “child-seat area” faces. Further, many of these devices tend to extend forward from the cart handle and across a substantial portion of the child-seat area, blocking or interfering with convenient placement of a child or items in that area.
There is still a need for a simpler, more compact accessory tray that prevents the common problem of personal items falling through the cart to the floor, and frequently becoming lost or even stolen, and the problem of maintaining easy and close access to those personal items by the user. There is a need for a tray that does not interfere with the use of the cart and the user's ability to conveniently reach the items and/or the child in the child-seat of the cart. The present invention solves one, multiple, or all of these needs, as will be further apparent from the following description and the drawings.